Pioneer wasn’t hit too hard by rain in the past couple of days, so it managed to play a double-header with Depew on Thursday. What’s more, the Panthers earned a sweep. Pioneer won the game by scores of 8-0 and 7-0.

“Today, the pitchers made it easy for us,” Pioneer coach David Buncy said. “They never got us in trouble.”

Walker Green threw a one-hitter in the opener of the twin-bill, in which both games were shortened to six innings.

“On the hit, the shortstop made a nice play and threw it across, and the runner just beat it out,” Buncy said. “We had a big second inning, scoring seven runs, and he coasted in from there.”

In the nightcap, Dylan Webber held Depew to four hits. Pioneer is 9-3, rebounding from a 4-10 season.

“We’ve had two losses to Springville; they’ve had our number,” Buncy said. “But we’ve held our own against everyone else. We’ve had a lot of nice one-run wins this year. ... We lost some guys from last year, but we’ve really come into our own.”

Elsewhere, St. Joe’s overwhelmed Nichols by a 12-0 count. Brad Kreppel went the distance, allowing two hits. David Maher had two hits and scored three runs.

Kane tops qualifiers

Tim Kane of Hamburg was the winner of the annual ECIC singles and doubles boys tennis tournament, which was held at Sweet Home High School over three days. The tournament determines the five singles players and doubles teams who will be in Tuesday’s Section VI tournament.

The other singles qualifiers were Jack McClaren of East Aurora, Mike Kessler of Williamsville North, Jack Quinlivan of Amherst, and Bryan Daigler of Sweet Home.

Down to the last shot

In boys lacrosse, it was tuneup time as a couple of fine area teams got ready for the playoffs with a non-division game. Clarence pulled out a 11-10 win over Niagara-Wheatfield.

The Red Devils seemed to have a comfortable lead at 11-7 in the fourth quarter, but then NW scored three goals in the final five minutes to make matters tight.

“We had a last second shot but we missed the net,” Niagara-Wheatfield coach Vince Schiffer said.

Steve Weppner had four goals and Lex Oakes added three for Clarence, wihle Jake Monroe was sharp in goal with 18 saves.

The Falcons are starting to think ahead until next week, when they’ll try to capture a sectional title.

“We’ve had a couple of games we should have won, but we’re getting ready for the playoffs,” Schiffer said.

Another close one

The Lancaster girls lacrosse team is getting good at winning the close ones. As a result, the squad has wrapped up the Class A title.

Lancaster held on to defeat Hamburg, 10-9. The Redskins had a 10-6 lead with six minutes to go, but Hamburg rallied to make it interesting. Lancaster stopped the Bulldogs’ last possession to wrap up the game and the title.

Allie Stewart had four goals for Lancaster, while Grace Gilbert added three goals and two assists.